14 Tips To Establish a Bedtime Routine for Your Child

A pleasant bedtime routine children help in easing the transition from being awake to falling asleep. A good bedtime routine can help your child feel more comfortable and secure about what to expect when each day comes to an end. In order to create a bedtime routine for babies, you need to develop a predictable sequence of activities that can easily and consistently be adhered to each night.

The bedtime routine in question can start to evolve and change as the child starts to grow, although its basics will need to remain as they were from the beginning. Depending on your child’s age, the baby bedtime routine may involve wearing their PJs, brushing their teeth, and then reading them an interesting bedtime story.

Alternatively, the child bedtime routine may also involve taking a bath, singing or listening to a song, followed by another song, and a warm glass of water. As a parent, it is upon you to make a decision on how to create a bedtime routine. You also get to decide on whether the bedtime routine will be quick and easy, or whether it will take a longer period that will allow you to bond with your child.

A bedtime routine idea will normally work best when you have reserved at least an hour prior to bedtime for engaging in quiet play with your child. Reserving this amount of time helps lower the baby’s activity levels while also preparing their nervous system for some much-needed relaxation.

Watching action-packed television shows, playing tickling games, running, and even roughhousing can make a peaceful transition to sleep very difficult for a toddler. If you are looking for a good bedtime routine for children, consider the following illustrations. You can choose any bedtime routine that you think will work best for your child:

Set a Specific Timetable and Be Sure to Stick to It

A child’s body is able to adjust much more easily to the bedtime routine if you choose a bedtime routine that follows a consistent and natural pattern. This means that you should avoid making changes to the bedtime routine as it will make it even harder for the child to fall asleep.

Provide a Warning

Just before the child has to rest, be sure to issue a warning to indicate that the day has started to wind down. Depending on your child’s age, they may be too young for them to start judging time just yet. This means that telling them five minutes to go may not necessarily work for you. However, you can teach your baby through association.

This can be achieved by starting the first part of the baby bedtime routine, e.g., placing the toys away or running the bath water. Choose how you would like to start the bedtime routine in order to signal that the day has started to wind down.

There are parents who often choose to signal impending bedtime routine by having the kitchen timer ring for five minutes: for a child, this is an indication that their bedtime has arrived. It also allows for an opportunity where a third party gets to announce bedtime, thereby reducing the desire for a child to complain. This is because toddlers also understand that it is not possible to argue with machines.

Offer Your Child a Snack

Light snacks that include carbohydrates and proteins, for instance, one half of wheat or whole bread and a small piece of cheese will help induce sleep in a toddler and will let the child remain asleep for the rest of the night.

This is an ideal child bedtime routine, as the carbohydrates will help make the baby sleepy, while proteins, on the other hand, will ensure that her blood sugar gets to remain level until breakfast time. Make sure that your baby gets to brush her teeth after eating.

Give Your Toddler a Warm Bath

It is important to create a bedtime routine that also incorporates a warm bath. By raising the child’s body temperature, you make the child more prone to falling asleep. In addition, getting a chance to play with her bath toys will also get her to relax.

Getting Dressed for Bed

Another bedtime routine idea involves getting your child ready for bed. For this, you will need to dress the baby using comfortable but non-binding PJs. Ensure that the pajamas are neither too light nor too warm.

Read a Story to Your Toddler

This is one of the most comforting and rewarding bedtime routine for children. This is more so if the story in question happens to be a favorite story commonly associated with going to bed, e.g., Goodnight Moon. However, take note that as the child starts to grow, they will want access to more stories and to a broader variety.

Play Soft Music

You can always incorporate soft music into your bedtime routine for babies. With soft music, you do not have to do much as all you will need to do is to let the music play in the background and watch as your child starts to drift off to slumberland.

Provide Your Child with a Sleeping Buddy

When developing your baby bedtime routine, you can try to incorporate snuggle buddies into that routine. Here, a teddy bear or favorite doll will come in handy in providing the comfort that your baby needs.

Eliminate or Limit Bottles

If your baby has previously needed a bottle in order to fall asleep, ensure that in the new child bedtime routine, the bottle will only contain water. Juice, formula, or milk will normally pool around his teeth leading to the development of cavities, which can be dangerous, especially for small children.

Ensure Your Goodnights Are Brief

You need to create a bedtime routine that will see you only say goodnight when it is time for both parents to leave the child’s room. While at it, try very hard not to go back even if the child calls out for you. This may sound harsh, but every time you go back to the room when the child calls you, you start conditioning your child to learn that parents will always come back quickly when they are called.

For any bedtime routine idea that you come up, you have to be strict to ensure that it is followed to the letter. Any hesitation on your end can be picked up by the child to mean that you were not serious about her going to bed. It also shows them that if they yell out for you really loudly, you will have no option but to go back and check up on them.

Be Patient

As with any other new activity, it is important to exercise some patience. For your new baby bedtime routine, you may have to plan for it at least two weeks in advance. Understand that it will take some time for it to really take hold. As you are practicing this new bedtime routine, you will need to ensure that each person who is to be involved in putting the baby to bed is around each night and working towards ensuring that the new system gets to take hold.

Have a Chat

Bedtime is always a nice time for you to spend a few minutes talking to your baby. It is not mandatory for you to wait until the baby is old enough to start narrating the events that occurred during the day. You can sit by her crib and narrate how your day went. This is a great way to get your baby to relax and fall asleep without causing a fuss.

Make Sleep a Family Priority

You can achieve this by determining how much sleep is required by each member of your family. Once determined, make sure that they all get to have enough sleep. If there are any problems, make sure that they are discussed with your toddlers’ doctor. Many such problems are easily treated.

Stick to Your Baby Bedtime Routine

If the toddler tries to push their boundaries, you will need to be kind but firm as well. As a parent, it will be important to make sure that you stick to what you have said, or else your child will keep pushing the boundaries until you finally give up.

This means that you may have to repeat the process as many times as necessary. In addition, try and resist the urge to show irritation or get angry with the toddler’s efforts to try and extend their bedtime. Getting angry or showing irritation only means that the entire process will get prolonged.

The Takeaway

Just as there are many ways to get your baby to fall asleep, there are certain things that you ought to avoid, or else your child will end-up developing poor sleeping habits. It is important to note that when nothing is done, many babies who have developed poor sleeping habits when young will continue to have the same issues when they start attending school. You need to address your child’s sleeping habits from an early age. And remember, if your child is not getting enough sleep, then neither are you.